Appeal Court Upholds Umahi’s Election

The appeal court sitting in Enugu on Friday upheld the victory of Ebonyi state governor, David Umahi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the April 11 governorship election in the state.

The state governorship election tribunal had earlier dismissed the petition filed by the Labour Party candidate, Chief Edward Nkwegu, challenging Umahi’s declaration for lacking in merit.

The three-man tribunal headed by Justice Theresa Igoche ruled that Nkwegu was unable to prove allegations of corrupt practices and criminalities alleged in the petition.

Dissatisfied with the judgment of the tribunal, Chief Nkwegu proceeded to the court of appeal in Enugu to challenge the verdict but the appellate court further ruled that the petition was “functionally useless”.

The petitioner through his counsel, Chief U.N Udechukwu,SAN, had prayed the appeal court to set aside the judgment of the tribunal on nine grounds which he said made the verdict a grave error of law.

The five-man appeal court panel led by Justice A.O.K Oyewole in unanimous judgment described the petition as functionally useless and therefore reaffirmed the judgment of the lower court.